#5 - Simple Solutions
The child mind has long been recognized for its ability to confront the world with a point-blank directness that often levels adult competition, hands down. "Out of the mouths of babes . . ." is not an empty proverb. What goes through a kid's mind is well worth paying attention to. In fact, it's a resource I've found myself employing more often than I should probably admit.
I recall reading a newspaper account many years ago about a truck that had become thoroughly wedged under a low overpass. For quite a time some hairy-armed truckers and policemen were trying to free the stuck truck. Finally an 8 year old boy who had been watching all the action spoke up: "Why don't you let the air out of that truck's tires? " That was a simple enough and it worked.
Then there was the time a nephew of mine went grocery shopping with his aunt. He was only 3 or 4 years old. All of a sudden he realized he was lost in all those aisles - not a familiar face in sight. Naturally, a degree of panic set in, but not so much that his outward cool was broken. He was determined to put an immediate stop to this terrible predicament and so simply stood in place halfway down the dog food aisle and yelled, " Hey! Anybody!"
It's not just the simplistic approach that impresses me, but the wonderful originality of an unencumbered, youthful mind.
Another nephew of ours found himself perched on a soda fountain stool in the drug store one day. Next to him was a tall silent stranger staring dead ahead, completely unmindful of the eager young conversationalist looking up at him. Finally, after a creative pause, the whole store heard a little voice say, " Hey, Mister! I can walk on water ya know! "
You'll notice, there's always an exclamation mark - nothing inhibited about these kids. And rarely is there any hesitation.
The son of a good friend of mine, at a very young age, was in the habit of calling his grandfather on the telephone every night before supper. One night he was telling his grandfather about an ice fishing excursion. After a while the old man asked him, "Just how do you go ice fishing anyway? "
"Well . . . Oh, that's easy. First you chop a hole in the ice. Then you take a tiny little fish out of the bucket and put it on the hook and let the line down through the hole. Then you wait a long time 'til the flag on the tip-up goes up. Then, Gramp, you pull the line up, and the little fish grew into a great big fish!"
On and on, hardly a day goes by when I don't hear a new bit of wisdom uttered by one of my young friends, or witness a quick unflinching approach to one of life's problems. One of the best examples I have ever seen of this was depicted in my all-time favorite drawing done by a five or six-year-old boy. It showed St George garbed in wonderfully intricate chain mail armor, doing battle with a terrifying and colorful dragon. St George had his sword raised over this flame-spewing dragon's head. In a cloud over St George, pointing to his mouth cartoon fashion, are two little words: "Stop it!" This is got to be the simplest imaginable way to deal with one of life's trickiest circumstances. What else would one say to a fire breathing dragon?